The egg of her dream
by Julia Lee Heartilly
Summary: "...Neither did know, how this will change everything they have come to know about themselves, and how many more responsibilities they still have - above the ones that they already know of." Postgame, REWRITE IN PROGRESS
1. Prologue: Turquoise awakenings

**I.**

**Prologue: Turquoise awakenings**

_'How salty.'_- was her first thought as she tried to assess the situation. - _'Only one finger at a time. Only one - two - ..breathe.'_

Something powdery crunched between her teeth. Slowly one finger lifted, then another, until she could move all of them.

It was a hard fight, but she refused to lay around helpless, and willed herself into finding out how her body works again. One toe, then another. It was nothing like she remembered. Something was very off, and she didn't know yet what that something actually was. The first problem she faced was that that was about as much as she could achieve. Her whole body felt like it was pulled apart and assembled in the wrong order. Making the limbs twitch, that she saw from the corner of her eyes was the most she could do. _'This is pathetic.'_ She groaned inwardly and pressed her temple down onto the wet ground to stop her head from spinning. _'Tch. Just what the feck is going on?'_ She thought, her mind already changed into a raging overdrive. _'Just a little more, WORK dangit'!'_ She yelled inside, as the arms that she felt attached to finally folded up on her sides. With a quick decision she pulled them under her torso, less her momentum gave out. It had made her quite queasy, as if she would have run until she was on the verge of passing out.

Everything was messed up, everything was disconnected, out of rhythm. Her mind was floating, even though everything else felt like lead. It was all telling her to give in. Yet she couldn't sleep - she shouldn't, _wouldn't _sleep. With that she let out a hoarse cry and pushed herself up, which although in itself was a progress - it was a very sad attempt at a crouch. She was dry heaving even by the effort of _simply_ _sitting up_. Of course the smell of rotting seaweed hadn't helped her in that regard either, as she coughed up the remaining seawater from her lungs. Slowly her circulation resettled- and although quite disoriented, her scattered wits slowly came about.

...Then came the scream of frustration.

A string of curses - she never even remembered to have learned - left her lips in a hiss as she tried to wipe her eyes clean, only to get it full of sand instead. She felt soiled from head to toe and was flabbergasted as to why _in seven hells_ she had clean clothes on over the mess. Upon closer inspection she found the substance she was covered in... simply disgusting. It looked like puked up jelly, had a sickeningly sweet smell and it was _pink_. _'Mother of all the holy-'_ It didn't really make ideal circumstances for moving either. Just imagine the comfort levels of having puked up pink jelly on your naked body. Then cover it with clothes.

Yeah, exactly.

Not to mention, this _goo_ had the irritable properties of clinging to practically everything that was in near vicinity. Meaning mainly herself, sometimes in very uncomfortable places that she didn't really think she could reach. _Then_ mix all of this together with sand and salty water. Talk about small nightmares.

After stumbling around, getting herself even dirtier, she fell into the shallow water and promptly started washing off as much of the offending substance as possible, clothes be damned. Walking seemed to be a nasty chore as of yet, and she didn't want to risk any more trouble than she was already in - so she started wandering, but always keeping close to the shoreline.

Not too far off, her attention caught something twinkling steadily and decided to take a closer look. Upon arrival she found little seawater puddles, filled with the most incredulous creatures. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't identify them with anything she had seen before. Maybe the closest thing she could've described them was with 'glowing jelly-beans'. They swam around lazily, revering in the sunshine that glazed upon the surface of the water, making them change colours with every ripple she made with her careful steps. As her eyes lost focus after staring at the little blobs of colour, she quickly blurred out her own reflection. One blink was enough for her to either stare at it feeling haunted, or never to look at it again. Her choice was obviously the latter.

The sun slowly moved halfway up already, yet she still refused to move as if in a daze - not fully comprehending anything she saw. Period.

Finally, after the heat started to get unbearable, she moved her hands through her long hair absently, trying to untangle it, then took a fleeting look at the skin on her hands. 'This is simply madness. Bloody madness I tell you.' She said aloud to nobody in particular, before she gathered herself up, looking for shade.

'What now..?' She muttered as she caught the movement of her new attire from the corner of her eyes. As she stood up slowly, the silk of her short, bright furisoda rippled and flown hypnotically on her arms - even though it was totally soaked, and the wind was practically still. Though the will to inspect her clothes had been the farthest from her mind before, now she was starting to get intrigued.

_'Curiouser and curiouser.'_ She thought with a grimace, and started to wave her arms around. Then even spun around for good measure.

_'Just dandy. Someone turned me into an oversized butterfly. What a strange way to handle the dead.'_ She flailed around aimlessly, trying to prove some kind of unknown point to… seemingly herself, as there still was no other living soul in the area. 'This isn't exactly how I imagined heaven to be.' She mumbled, trying to somehow get the sleeves to cooperate with her, instead of flying off in every direction.

Coming to the conclusion that this indeed was certainly not heaven, she started to analyse her surroundings more carefully, after finding it futile to make her apparel function after her will.

_'The sun is still high up.'_ She asessed as she looked upwards, shielding her eyes with her tiny hands and spotted some seagulls. _'I should look around for some sign of life, as long as it's light. Finding some kind of shelter would be nice as well... But the first priority is drinkable water.'_ She counted down her duties as the scenery, and its so far mostly invisible inhabitants paid no mind to her more than before.

Her thoughts circled around the issue of survival and now, that she was a bit more steady on her own feet, she set out in the opposite direction turning her back to the shore. Mind full of food, rest, and paranoia- still trying not to think too deep, only strictly on survival, as she was just a simple girl lost in… some unknown place, in an unknown situation with unknown- just too many unknowns to let it sink in just yet. Her feet felt steadily like lead again, yet she kept on walking tirelessly until she spotted a road in the distance.

_'It doesn't seem too old, and it's well kept. That could mean it leads to somewhere populated.'_ Came to her mind and she drastically sped up her steps, hoping for any kind of traffic that could lead her to the knowledge of _where exactly_ she was. It was a seriously wrong move. The road wasn't far away now, but neither were the swarm of buzzing creatures that mostly reminded her of various bugs meshed together. Except these were twice the size of her head, plus they didn't seem very friendly. Not when all of them came at you at once - with an aggressive, harsh buzz.

_'Well, so much for taking it slow.'_ She winced at the new degree of strain on her legs as she broke into a dash - momentarily everything else forgotten - and dived head first into the under bush on the edge of the nearby forest. She hid and waited, until most of the creatures left the general area. - _'I guess now is one of those times when..'_ But the thought was frozen and discarded instantly as she carefully took a better look at the monsters. Realisation slowly hit her - spreading from her brain to her limbs, thrumming within her rapid heartbeat, pulsing in her ear, making her fingertips ache with the beat of it.

_'The shape, the colours, the markings, the movements, even the characteristics...there is no doubt.'_ Her hands pulled so hard on the patch of grass she held onto that she tore it out. _'These are undoubtedly a swarm of Bite Bugs.'_ She took a long, panic-filled look to her left, where the road stretched further into the scenery. _'Then how far could it be, and just how far can I get today?'_

Crawling still seemed like a better option than running, and turning into the dinner of a few dozen oversized, mutated, moon-monster-insect…somethings - although neither result would have been really pretty, considering the state of her appearance - she didn't believe she could actually get even _more_ dirty than this, and yes..maybe she had enough twigs and leaves stuck on her person, yet getting out of this alive was more of a priority. _'...I need a battle plan. And fast. Sometime before I turn into a botanical garden on legs or attract these things further with this smell.'_ She thought as she pulled some random branches out of her hair.

After countless hours of sneaking around varied with full speed sprinting, she finally made out the outlines of a small town in the distance. The huge entrance gate that seemed to be glowing with a blinding white light was getting closer rapidly. But that might just have been her imagination and gratefulness…or the light sunstroke she managed to get throughout the day.

_'Finally... Seems like I made it in one piece.'_ Her lungs protested and she wheezed as she came closer to the huge _"Welcome to Balamb"_ shield above the town entrance. Her legs almost gave out before she stumbled right under the arch, where she stopped abruptly, so she could take a few seconds to gaze at the gate. She took a few measured steps backwards to admire the marksmanship of the stones that made up the sturdy looking structure. The striking off-white marble practically glowed in the late afternoon rays, giving the warm and inviting feeling she always associated with seaside towns. With a soft smile she quickly slinked back under the arch, pressed up to the wall and slowly slid to the other edge to peek into the town.

Being slightly paranoid and edgy after the encounters she had during her last hours, she chose to be more cautious rather than not. Her eyes scanned the area for anything suspicious before she entered, and found nothing that could be labelled as fishy - even though she couldn't part with that nervous and itchy feeling of being watched. Which was all mainly due to the obvious fact that it shouldn't be possible for her to be where she was, doing what she was doing, let alone be _breathing_ for a fact; yet she was still there - so she calmly took the remaining steps inside.

Standing on the other side of the archway, she took one last look behind and felt her heart stop for a few beats as she saw something huge move towards her. It was definitely a few times larger than a Bite Bug. Without thinking she desperately raced towards the centre of town - until she couldn't feel that heated pair of blood red eyes on her back - and slumped down on a bench totally spent.

'I've had enough dammit! Just…sleep.' Left her lips in a small murmur as she stretched out, and let her legs dangle over the armrest. She was about to drift into a state of numb stupor, when something started tickling her leg. Then her wrist and her knees. Still, what really jolted her to awareness were a pair of paws on her gut, with the weight of a dog added to it. Only two words: Not. FUN.

Her figure moved about town like a typical example of a bad joke: twigs and leaves sticking out of her hair and clothes from very awkward and strange places- in equally awkward and strange angles - with at least seven dogs and even more cats hot on her heels, chasing her down wherever she went.

What really creeped her out though, were the overly chatty senior citizens - who pointedly ignored her obvious dishevelled looks, and started novella recitals of their lives, spectacularly ignoring her plea for directions - which happened somewhere along the not so comfortable run, when the local stray animals thought she was a walking piece of candy.

So when the chain of strange events didn't end there she wasn't even surprised, for the application to a job open at the gift-shop went as smoothly as it can for a gooey, messy-haired, thin, dishevelled looking 17 year old girl.

Meaning half an hour later she was standing outside the shop with a signed paper in hand. With feelings of disturbance spinning in her head I might add, as she was expecting rather a few hits with a broom or high pitched screams, than... pretty much anything else than _this_.

_'Well, that was just...woah.'_ She stared at the document again, maybe waiting for it to suddenly combust. That would pretty much be the only logical thing happening to her that day._ 'The world has gone officially mad. Not like I want to protest but still...'_ She took a backwards glance and eyed the woman inside, who was arranging various goods on the shelves. _'Well at least now I have some income to go by. I just need to find a place to crash, preferably before my shift starts.'_ So she made her way to the fastest option possible that came to her, the hotel - because after all that happened so far, just why the heck not?

As she was nearing the big oak doors with each step she murmured 'need to get to Eshtar' and 'need to find Dr. Odine'- the small heels of her sandals clicking softly to the ground - and with that general unkempt look that screamed either homeless, loony homeless, or the ever so classic loony-homeless-serial killer, that even mutters to herself - the townspeople with even the slightest common sense thought she was a nutcase, and didn't bother to get involved with her.

That suited her very much indeed.

She pushed the heavy doors inside, and was welcomed with a warm smile from the owner. Without hesitation she walked up to the man. 'What can I help you with dear?' He asked. 'I'd like to inquire if there are any rent-inculding boarder jobs available in the hotel.' - the girl said.

The man considered for a few minutes, took a good look at her, then thought some more with little 'hmms' here and there. She simply stood there in a way that would say 'unaffected' if any bystander would be observing the scene. As it really was so. _'If it all went to hell anyway, then it might as well go all the way.' _Yet her mind had betrayed her seemingly extreme luck and already portrayed her passed out on a bench somewhere.

'Can you sing lass? Because we have a bar on the upper level and our singer moved to Dealing a few months ago wishing for more fame than a lowly bar-performer.' He scowled a bit, but brightened instantly and motioned to the second staircase on his right. 'We'll do an audition and if the band accepts and you also accept, then you can take his old room. It's in the west wing, on the third floor.' He guided her upwards and she silently trudged beside him.

'It has a wonderful seaside view.' The man added with a smile that showed the crinkles in the corner of his eyes. 'Shifts would start from 9 pm until midnight every other day, and you would have to take part in the band rehearsals. Performances will always be held on the weekends.' He paused, waiting for an answer from the taciturn girl. Said girl stared ahead, as if she didn't comprehend what he said so far, so he prompted. 'Will this arrangement be suitable for you?' It felt as if her chin had practically unhinged as she tried to find her voice. Or at least fix the short circuit that shut down the remaining active parts of her brain.

'Of course only if you...uh,' He inspected her, and made circular movements with his hand before his face. '-..you know...kept yourself slightly more tidy perhaps?' His weak attempt at lightening her mood ended in a nervous chuckle, while he shuffled his weight from one leg to the other. She stopped on the stairs somewhere along the way, and stood there giving a stellar performance imitating a fish, in a non-too-elegant way. Not that fishes can gape elegantly, but yeah.

_'O-okay. Where's the camera? This CANNOT BE anything BUT a joke. Or maybe everyone is on some kind of drugs in this town? It must be made of pure awesome! Or pure insanity. Whichever.'_ She ranted in her mind and attempted to find some logic in their behaviour, but then let it be. The list of strange things has just won itself another entry. _'I... I was singing before I even spoke! …What the bloody hell is going on?' _ After she stood there voiceless, dumbstruck for a few or more moments, ready to bash her head somewhere, she collected her newly scattered wits somewhat, and almost choked on trying to say the first thing that came to her mind, all while nodding vigorously. 'Perfect.'

'Jolly good!' The owner said, clapping his hands together, his good mood returning. 'But before I prepare the paperwork and call up the band, let me know your precious name.' Asked the man.

'I'm.. Rain Heartnet, pleased to meet you.' She introduced herself without a hitch, using the rather uncreative name that she came up with - in the short period of 20 seconds, when she was signing the papers in the gift-shop. She had no idea why the first person she associated to was the shaggy, brown-haired sweeper - or more importantly, _why_ she more or less took his name and ran away with it.

The race went against the fast flow of events, and she was desperately trying to keep up. Failing worse every time. The thought just stuck with her and refused to budge. _'It can't be helped now.'_ She sighed dejectedly as she blinked down on her lanky signature that stretched at the bottom of the contract, which was still clutched in her hands as she followed the older man further up the stairs.

Half an hour later she was trailing dumbly behind Elza the receptionist, who was guiding her to her new room. Her eyes darted around nervously as she feared that she couldn't actually blend in well with this crowd, but after bumping into a very strange looking man in the lobby, looking almost as shabby as her - with nobody paying him any mind, except two equally strange people - she felt a little bit of anxiety lift from her soul, even though they gazed after her with a funny expression on their faces.

Still, the feeling of being watched by something _very different_ never fully left her.

* * *

'_Darkness...darkness all around, and the strange mist of sand. It was for so long, that it seems that that is all I've known my whole life. Up and down...all around this darkness that is. And the unbearable cold...freezing me down 'till the bones. But the worst of all...was the silence. Not a sound anywhere...Sometimes I needed to scream in my mind to know I'm still there..._'

The sun was setting and the room was swimming in a bright orange light. The breeze carried in the smell of the ocean.

She slowly left the room and headed for the roof. The warmth of the sunset and the smell was overbearing - still, she couldn't shake the memories off of herself. Starting to feel slightly sick at the wrongness of the serenity she was in, she dashed back to her room and hurriedly dragged the curtains closed. The light was hurting her inside.

'_I remember as time went by I somehow lost all sense of it and space too. Almost couldn't place exactly where I end and the darkness begins. Then I fell asleep and dreamt._' She let her hands fall away from the curtains and stared soundlessly before herself. '_Of beautiful things. Never-ending meadows, with flowers, bird chirping, the smell of everything that's around, the laughter of my family, my friends...and him... I could do and have whatever I wanted as a dream. But only as a dream, and that wasn't even comparable with what I had._' She paced around the now dim room and took an abrupt stop before the mirror.

_ '...I had? Who am I anyway? It was so long, too long. I need to remember... Was it even real or just an illusion to begin with?_' She edged closer to the smooth glass surface with small uncertain steps, hating what she saw more and more. '_...Do I even exist..? Did I ever?...Am I the person I believe I am?..._' The moment she stood face to face with her reflection and looked into those unfamiliar and at the same time very familiar eyes – she felt sick to her stomach. And the memories just kept coming back, throwing themselves at her like an endless flood.

'_After I felt at least a millennia pass with these confusing thoughts in my mind swirling endlessly, I woke._' Her hands shook visibly and her knees started to give out, but she refused to slump down. '_I woke to the sight of the sea. To THE sea I've been visiting in my daydreams for so long, that I almost thought I had visited really._' She was determined not to let herself feel any more. Feelings led to disappointment. She couldn't have that. Not now, not ever.

'_That was the day, the start of facing a new reality that I wanted as a child and backfired at me as I started to have a life, ..or maybe that was all just an illusion as well...?_' How she longed to see the familiar faces and the places where she grew up. The void that their memories left behind ached more with each passing moment.

'_But all I could do was watch that gorgeous, huge, white-blue facility fly by in the distance as gracefully as a butterfly - oh how I wished to scream at it, to scream to the high heavens as it landed - away in the distance - in its original place that was demolished to a crater by a bunch of missiles some time ago...But that's another story. One that I wish I could have stayed out of right now._' She couldn't stop it, those bitter tears, couldn't hold that weight on herself that now pushed her to the ground and degraded her to a weeping ball of hurt and uncertainty. But it's all right. This once.

Just this once.


	2. The taste of salt

**II.**

**Chapter two: The taste of salt**

She never would have thought, not even in her wildest dreams that Mr. K would trust her so easily, or that the townsfolk will do either. It didn't just seem like another world, it truly WAS another world – no pun intended. They were all so kind and gullible– 'More like morons I would say, but oh well.' She shrugged. One would never even think that something evil could actually exist there besides some of those nasty lunch ladies in the cafeteria down the road.

'I'm telling you that woman's _evil_.' Jaclyn said over the takeout, pointing her fork at her brunette friend. 'She looked liked she would jump over the counter with her massive 97 kilos and butcher me alive, if I coughed once more.' She grumbled.

'Then try blowing your nose next time. Besides if she was so massive, she would squish you dead before any of the butchering can happen. I'd say that's reassuring.' She sniggered between two mouthfuls, motioning at her tiny structure. The redhead dropped her utensils and almost choked. 'Do I look suicidal to you?' She shot back as she dived under the table for her fallen fork.

'So you don't go by the no-pain, no-gain policy?' – there was a loud thud and Jaclyn peeked over the table. 'You wouldn't dare….' She glared at Rain, the visible parts of her face blushing furiously.

Other places might have been different, but this was like the paradise she had always craved for. Seemingly endless days for long walks, reading, window shopping and nights for stargazing while sipping tea on the roof - trying to make sense of what happened to the main idea that was supposed to be her life.

Still she just couldn't really enjoy it in these circumstances.

It wasn't like she wouldn't ever see them again...But being depressed to be alone most of the time, she thought to be pretty normal. Nobody waiting for her at home, nobody scolding her that she's not eat enough, or that she should start her homework and get off the computer and such. She should even have felt liberated. Still she didn't.

It was only logical to miss ones family, even more so that in the back of her mind she knew that the chance to meet again was more than a little slim.

Sure Mr. K and everyone else was trying their best to make her forget the fact that she was now "rootless" and whatnot, but that little bug in her head kept scheming plans of how to escape, how to find the infamous scientist, and _how to get home_.

Singing was her only escape. And since we're at the topic…Yeah well, The band.

That pack of bohemian individuals, who most of the time act like their age doesn't exceed the average of _five_. A big group of brothers and sister who are always there to make her laugh so uncontrollably that she trips over her own legs; to ridicule her all the worst times possible just to get it all back tenfold, and well… be as normal as such a dysfunctional family can be.

They can even be protective when it's needed. Surprisingly though, the most feared one of the gang came out to be Jaclyn, the only female amongst them- except Rain herself. The redhead used to have a _non-too-friendly_ relationship with one of the bouncers mainly because he was repeatedly hitting on their singer.

The only thing that made out to be a problem (, and a major one at that) was that he just wouldn't get what the letters N and O combined meant coming from Rain's mouth. Or anyone else's for that matter. Hence the animosity towards him. Since that last incident, when she was even scarier than a pack of T-Rexaurs head on, the brunette knew she should never get on her bad side.

Like now, for instance.

She calmly took a large gulp of her mug and stared at the vast seaside painted orange by the dusk, while this week's loudest shriek echoed throughout the yet still calm streets of Balamb._ 'I guess she found one of my little "presents". How handy can it exactly be, when someone is gifted in photo-manipulation, like me?' A_ devilish little smile showed up on her face and she took a few steps closer to the edge of the roof. _'Wooh. I'm sure there'll be hell to pay for this one.' _She smirked into her mug pretty much satisfied. Taking a large sniff of the pleasant aroma that was wafting through the air, her thoughts turned elsewhere.

_'Mrs. K otherwise Anna.' – _she recited in her mind, like she was reading it from an imaginary list. A really nice person, she was the firsty one who noticed how lonely the singer was, thus she invited her to dinner with them at least a dozen times. Being a dedicated mother she sometimes even brought lunch with the excuse that 'she was just passing by'.

_ 'Maybe that's why the notion of food and her are so closely placed in my mind.' W_ithout noticing, the small little house where the Kiel's lived crept partly into her line of sight._ 'Her roast chocobo is award-winning and I like the way she **always** smiles. Though it's kinda creepy at times.' S_he admitted to herself sheepishly as she sat down letting her legs dangle over the edge of the roof, and put her mug beside herself.

She recalled the first time she had dinner with them and Anna laughed so hard at her expression that she had to sit down not to fall square on her butt. A small little smile formed in the corner of her mouth._ 'Hyne, how horrified I got after I found out they actually **eat **chocobos. She couldn't calm me down until she explained that these are genetically modified and bred for this purpose only. That sure was an epic freak out.' S_he covered her face with both hands to stifle the heat of shame at the memory.

_'It's just really weird that I've been here for nearly 6 months and they never even once questioned why I don't remember where I'm from or if I have a family.' _Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a few shallow lines of a frown._ 'Of course I lied...I can't tell them the truth, can I?' _She sighed loudly, throwing back a few errand strands of hair that were blown into her mouth by some lazy gush of wind._ 'Maybe they just think I'm old enough to cope with it alone and get medical help if I have amnesia, or they just think it's a touchy subject for me and they just leave me alone till' I start talkin'. S_he wiggled her toes, annoyed with this thought._ 'But I don't think that'll happen. Ever.'_

She stood angrily, stomped up to her discarded sandals with half a mind to throw them from the roof – yet she simply picked them up.

_'I'd just rather forget how I got to the state I've been for Hyne knows how_ long.' Realisation suddenly stopped her mid-stride._ 'Oh swell...now I'm even talking like a Gaean. Greeeat...I think I need to get out of here before everyone gets too friendly to leave behind easily.'_

* * *

The sun was shining, the weather was the finest in months - not a cloud in the sky, no strange noises to hear but a shriek from the upper floor and a loud crash, probably some china breaking on tiles.

_'Not again...damn...she still has something to break?...Old bat...I had such a nice dream... .'_ She turned to her side trying to avoid the sun that was creeping through the faux stained glass windows to no avail. The bright green, red, blue, turquoise, purple, yellow and orange lights spread all over the room and were reflected by the mirror on the wall, making it harder to stay asleep by the minute - so she got out of the bed admitting defeat to the morning and sleepily went to the bathroom to clear up.

_'Just great. I'm going to be late. Again. I hope I won't miss the bus. Today's the field trip to that fisher village I've been dying to see. Please not today...'_ She pleaded as she desperately rummaged through her wardrobe, trying to find something to wear. A few minutes later as the whole content of the drawer was scattered on her floor she finally decided to wear her white sleeveless, strapless dress, with the ever-so-usual biker shorts under it. After knocking over nearly all of the haphazardly placed stacks of books that littered around her room - now mixing the piles of clothes with her precious literature - she came to a halt and observed the mess she made. 'What an utter catastrophe. I'd really need to clean up today.' She talked to the otherwise empty room.

_'Now where are my boots...?'_ She resumed running around the house searching for them, grabbing the comb in the process. After she found them, she hastily stepped tugged them on and hobbled to her mirror, to try and tame her nut-brown, long and lank hair that became hopelessly uncooperative. With her school bag skidding to a halt beside the front door after a swift kick, she skipped into the kitchen to get something to eat - and with the same momentum threw herself back into the corridor randomly cursing at clocks and empty stomachs while she threw on her dark red jeans jacket and darted outside.

'How I love to skip breakfast.' She grumbled with said stomach agreeing with a loud growl. Another sting of curses left her as soon as she turned left at the third corner, and bumped into a familiar looking person.

'Mornin' Jad!' Said the girl cheerily and tried to pry the shorter girl's fingers off her person. 'Same to you Sam. Actually you're pretty darn lucky you haven't injected any positive adjective before said daytime.' She answered moodily, trying to find her balance lest she sent them both tumbling. 'Anyways.. slept well?' Was her attempt to force her spirits higher.

'Yeah…kind of. And you?' Sam looked down at her friend, who was a few inches smaller than her and instantly knew the answer. 'What did she break this time?'

'Sounded like a whole collection of china to me.' Grumbled Jaded, as she stood up and started pulling on her dress in attempt to fix the multitude of creases, with not much effort. 'Let that be. It's not the kind of material that needs ironing anyway.'

They walked in silence, not daring to say anything in fear of starting THE argument again. First it was only a bi-weekly trend, still as time passed, it somehow became a daily occurrence. Nowadays it was most likely to be an hourly one. As if on cue, after they got on the bus and took the next to last pair of seats, Sam just couldn't hold her tongue any longer.

'Oh come on! He's all over you, only one look at him could tell. He's staring at you even now!' Frowned the girl while she swished her wavy, honey brown hair out of her face and looked at her friend with piercing blue eyes. A pair of deep amber looked the other way to avoid her blue orbs just to be confronted with a pair of deep brown ones.

_'When will you take the hint idiot? You are hurting someone who's close to me with the stunts you're pulling off…'_ She cursed mentally willing him to read her mind, even though she knew it was a futile attempt.

He just looked at her questioningly, not understanding why he had made her angry yet again, and turned back to enjoying the scenery. _'Damn…is he THAT blind! Sam is acting like a silly schoolgirl whenever he's around…I don't get that guy. I mean just look at her.'_ She turned to Sam getting more irate by the second.

_'She has a pretty face, she is thin, and got the curves in all the right places. What's even more important, her beauty isn't just skin-deep. The perfect amount of craziness is a huge factor as well.'_ Her face must have lost all kind of emotion, because Sam seemed like she was about to leave the topic be.

'Sam you know I'm not interested. I never liked those guys who are so full of themselves that they think I have to fall over just because I'm breathing the same air as them. ' She raised her hand so her friend would let her finish. 'Neither would I be interested, if he weren't such a flea-brained, ignorant little _ork_ to top it all off. Or the last male that walks the surface on legs, not sliding on his own drool, like he does. I don't understand why you defend him so vehemently.' Sam huffed and opened her mouth to retort, but Jaded cut in with a mischievous little smile.

'Look, I know I told you I find snails funny but...not this much.' That did the job of shutting her up for a while, but after a few minutes of silently sitting, she snorted abruptly and grinned at the brunette. 'Seriously Jade...snails?'

* * *

They slowly reached the village and headed for the docks, as five fishing vessels were already arranged for the boat trip out on the open sea. As the bus stopped and the students filed out, the teacher went to talk with the owners then split the students up into five groups, putting seven people in each.

Jaded and the others watched amazed how the crew of the ship would work together and once out on the sea would let out the net, while others were explaining what they were doing and filling in the students about the different aquatic species they were harvesting. As much as she was interested, the salty scent of the sea was too heady for her to concentrate so she slowly let it drift quietly into a background buzz.

'Great God…don't tell me…..we're stuck with HIM of all the people…' Jaded thought bitterly as she took a sidelong glance, and a familiar shock of black hair swam in her vision she wished she rather hadn't noticed.

'Is something wrong?' Sam asked, taking a glance at her expression.

'Nope. I'm all right.' She said. _'As long as that idiot doesn't come around again, shamelessly flattering himself through his sad attempts at trying to flatter me.'_ She thought, as she bumped the toes of her boots absently on the strip floor.

'_Just what a coincidence for Faith to put him on this here boat. Maybe I should stop wondering. He is _magically_ always in the near vicinity wherever I am.'_ She gripped the railing a bit harder. _'It could also happen that he switched with someone.'_ She quickly replayed the faces of the other students in the group she was sorted into, and found one missing. _'How annoying. I thought I'd finally have a good time…Oh just #%+! you!_' She almost cursed aloud.

'You sure you're okay?' Sam asked, concern making her scrunch up her face and curl her lips downward. 'Yeah, I'm sure.' The brunette answered flatly. Her friend flashed her a small smile and turned back to her 'trying-not-to-stare-at-him-obviously' game once again. _'Like the third millionth time so far….'_ Jaded sighed.

An hour later as she almost dosed off on the deck, she was roughly roused from half-sleep by a loud cry.

'Captain! A huge thunderstorm is upon our trail! We should get the kids inside!' Shouted someone from afar. Jaded couldn't make out who it was, as it became dark too quickly to do so. The waves of ice-cold water were getting high enough to crash onto the deck and made her trip on her own numb feet.

The crew was running around, pulling in the net, gathering the students and pushing them down the scuttle. Only one forgotten person remained on the deck, holding frantically onto the only thing separating her from the raging waves, the metal railing. The wind angrily pulled on her nut-brown hair, her dark red jacket, and white dress – then in a blink of an eye she vanquished to be embraced by the flailing waves.

* * *

She felt the cold and wet railing slip under her finger and thought this can't be happening. With every ounce of power left in her, she tried to stand up and get to the scuttle where the crew brought everyone else. The blood in her ears was thundering and she wanted to scream, scream loud enough to rival the storm, yet she couldn't even manage a strangled yelp. _'How could this be?'_

_'I was always the person that was overlooked, not noticed and such. It only hurt me the first time it came out in the open, when I asked one of my classmates for the homework after I've been ill, and she asked since when I've been at home.' E_verything became so slippery, so hard to hold on._ 'That hurt. Very much indeed. I haven't been there for more than a week and no one notices...' _The wind whipped her ice cold, wet hair on her body and in her face making her go numb all over._ 'But after that I got used to it and it slowly stopped bothering me in any way.'_

_'If I was like thin air than nobody can hurt me as well as nobody can see me and judge me. It's good that way. Air is something you'll never see, but you can't live without. Well that's what I thought anyway.' _The wind became so harsh, it was increasingly difficult to breathe, no matter where she tried to turn her face._ 'But if even Sam doesn't notice that I'm missing, then what the hell am I doing here anyway...?' _All the directions started to melt into each other as her hands became as numb as the rest of herself, unable to hold onto the railing any longer. She smiled to herself bitterly, as the floor slipped from under her feet, her hands slipped from the railings, and she felt her body fall.

The worst of it was that at that stage she didn't even care. Her battered soul welcomed the ice cold water stinging her skin, the taste of salt in her mouth, all of the air leaving her lungs. To her it felt like all of this didn't matter anymore. Everyone just didn't seem to know she exists. '_Water, cold, so cold... so...salty._' Were her last coherent thoughts as she was sinking deeper and deeper in the dark depths.

_At the same moment_ _millions of light years and millions of parallel universes farther - two women awoke from the terrible nightmare of a drowning girl only to be comforted by their knights and be ushered back to sleep a little while later. But they soon realized that this was only the beginning of their weird dreams to come and haunt them. Neither did know, how this will change everything they have come to know about themselves, and how many more responsibilities they still have - above the ones that they already know of._

* * *

The chill was starting to reach her heart again so she snapped herself back to reality_._ Back onto the roof with her lukewarm tea and the millions of stars twinkling above.

_'That is how everything started.' S_he recalled reaching for her mug absently.

_'I wish I could just undo that last bit of action, yielding to the fact that no one cares about me. I never really made an effort for anyone to do otherwise and that was my big mistake.' _She pulled up one leg and flexed her toes against the concrete._ 'What I don't really get is how everything after that turned out like this?' _She rested her chin on her knee, and tried to ignore the itchy feeling travelling up and down her nape. Her paranoia always worsened at night, even though she succeeded in giving up the habit of darting her eyes all over the place. Tonight her jitters seemed to act up again.

_'I mean…I _did _die out there so how can I be here in this body that isn't mine at all?' _She angrily pulled at a tuft of hair, rubbed it between her fingers and smelled it_. 'Nothing like me at all.' _She noted getting annoyed at the itch._ 'Some serious questions I need answers to and real fast, or I think I'll just go mad with thinking too much.' _Her hands firmly clutched her shin, to keep them from scratching her neck or randomly throwing something behind her with full force_. _

_'Another two months and I have enough money to get out of here and get some answers in Eshtar. Maybe even a way back to my old life.' _In the blink of an eye she whipped around in a crouch, ready to hurl one of her sandals while quickly observing every little non-existent nook and cranny on the perfectly flat roof. The itching suddenly stopped. It was all so ridiculous that she knew she was slowly loosing her marbles. With dropping the half of her tattered sandals that she clutched, all power seemed to leave her. Her graceless tumble ended her in her previous position with even less peace of mind.

_'Now that every memory came back to me- slowly, but I could select what was real and what I've just dreamt.' _She looked ahead weakly for a few moments_. 'I wish I could go back to the way it was. Not a worry on my mind, free to roam around whenever, doing nothing, or just talking with Sam would always make my day. And I miss my little bro' trying hard to act like he was the older one, failing miserably….' _The sudden appearance of heat from another living body near her was terrifying at first, and it would get worse every time it happened. Today tough, she decided she won't let herself freeze up. Determination seeped through her veins and warmed her through.

_'Yes…I want it all back. And I'll do whatever it takes to get back to the way it was before I ended up here.' _As soon as she stood again with sandals and mug in hand, the presence disappeared before she could turn around and confront it.


	3. The Hatchling

**III.**

**Chapter three: The Hatchling**

She lay awake in their bed, sleepless once again. 'I'm so sick of this.' She fumed. 'I just can't take it anymore. I hate this darkness. Why can't I dream about something else?' She rolled on her side to try to get back to sleep, only to meet a pair of stormy blue eyes.

'Still disturbing you?' He asked with a slight smirk on his face. 'Yeah, kind of.' She admitted tiredly. 'I told you that you should see Dr. Kadowaki, but you said you'll be fine. Are you still positive you'll be fine?' He asked with a hint of concern in his voice as he gazed into her chocolate brown orbs.

'I'm sure I'm sure…. It's just irritating…if it would change at least from time to time, it would be better. Anyways, Dr. Kadowaki couldn't help me. Edea is still in Eshtar, and if the specialists there can't figure out what these dreams are about, I doubt that Norah would have anything better to say or do so.' She said quietly, as she snuggled closer to the person she loved the most.

He took her into his arms and stroked her hair as her breaths got even, and she dosed off again - only to sink into the darkness that has been appearing in her dreams for almost a month now. But something seemed a little bit different tonight. It wasn't _that_ dark anymore. She could almost taste the light - not just see it - still, she couldn't find the source. She turned around frantically only to realize she somehow felt light, but at the same time, a strange force made it hard for her to move any other way than in slow motion.

She knew this feeling. 'Water…? What the..!' She felt soft, but stable footing under herself, so she stood. As the weak light shone on her surroundings, she had discovered what the footing was. 'Sand…I'm on the bottom of the ocean. How…nice.' She contemplated for a while, speculating on her surroundings, but decided fairly quickly. 'Now let's see what twinkles down here.' She searched for the light, though she had to wait a few until the sand she stirred up had settled, for her to be able to catch a blink of it again.

Rinoa still couldn't figure out how she could breathe underwater, or why her surroundings actually reacted to her movements, but she figured it must have something to do with her sorcery, and her body actually sleeping somewhere where there _was_ air, so it didn't bother her further.

As she stood there motionless, she soon discovered the cause of the light. It was lying right before her in the sand. A little egg-shaped…object. She couldn't really attach any remote notion she knew to it. And she didn't even have time to meditate on a label she could force this phenomenon under. The ringing of the phone awoke her rather abruptly.

She felt him climb out of bed, sheets rustling, but she didn't feel awake enough to track what was happening _'outside'_, so she just lay there like she was in some kind of stupor. Her mind didn't even register the hushed conversation Squall was leading on the phone, his voice getting steadily louder – but she could feel him. She felt the mixture of anger and worry. The vibes were getting stronger by each second, so she picked herself up and tried to make her brain respond to her surroundings, to catch something from the conversation that was strangely turning into an argument.

'I don't care dammit! I won't let her go there. No Laguna, for once listen to me! I'm-NOT-GOING-TO-PUT-HER-LIFE-IN-DANGER-AGAIN!' He punctuated his opinion with… simply shouting. 'I never trusted Dr. Odine and never will.' He said, forcing himself to take a normal tone as he glanced back on his slowly waking lover. 'Edea had made her decision. Fine! But I'm not handing Rinoa over to that madman!...No I don't care if they made a breakthrough…I said NO! Good-bye Laguna.' He slammed the receiver down. The various thoughts in his head swirled into a dangerous mix – he felt close to blowing up.

'How in Hyne can he be so tactless? As if Rinoa would be some guinea pig to experiment on.' He needed all his self-control for her not to notice, though he knew very well that he couldn't hide anything from her for longer than half a minute.

The knight looked at her slender figure wrapped in the sheets, her hair going off in all directions and he couldn't help but let that little smile creep up his face, though it disappeared when he looked into her questioning eyes. He sighed, moved slowly to the bed, sat down, and lifted her onto his lap.

'So they want me there too…?' She asked wearily. 'It seems so, but I'll arrange it so that you don't have to go near that laboratory.' He ran his hand through his hair in a swift but frustrated movement. 'I don't trust him with you. I'll just ask for one of his least ambitious assistants, if it's absolutely necessary for you to take part in this research.' He said as he rested his chin on the top of her head, stroking her hair absent mindedly.

As time went on the egg got visibly larger…and….

...

Squall was fast asleep on his desk still full of paperwork. He jumped slightly as he woke to the ringing of his phone. He shook himself in order for the circulation in his head to start working properly, looked at the tab and registered it was an inside call. Then he picked up the phone.

'It's Commander Leonhart speaking. What can I help you with?' He said muffling a yawn between sentences.

'Dr. Kadowaki speaking. Please report to the infirmary on the double.' Said the woman on the other side.

'I'll be right there.' His heart sank all the way down to his stomach. 'Today was Rinoas' check-up with that clown from Eshtar..! If he did anything to her…I'll….' He grabbed his gunblade as fast as he could, junctioned Shiva and Eden, and dashed down to the infirmary - leaving a heaping mess after himself, as a few stacks of paperwork landed on the floor and trailed his exit. He tapped his hand on the grip of his Lionheart impatiently as he waited for the elevator to get to the ground floor.

As it stopped and started opening its doors, Squall pushed trough before it opened up fully, dashed down the stairs, took a sharp right turn, then a left one. The moment the electronic doors swung open and he tumbled inside, he was met with a happily chatting group of Dr. Kadowaki, Rinoa, and a rather short and skinny guy with a weird accent.

'What…what happened?' He asked slightly panting, inexpressible relief washing over him at seeing his beloved alright. She skipped before him and jumped in his arms, almost suffocating him with her tight embrace. 'Rinoa please calm down, I need to breathe.' She laughed sweetly, in an obviously ecstatic mood. After he calmed her down a bit and put her on the ground, she took his hand, pulled him up to the group that huddled around the huge screen, turned back to him and clapped her hands together.

'Something is growing…in it…!' She said with shining eyes and clasped hands, smiling wide. He just stood there stock still, taking in the beaming faces and frowned, very much_ not _happy.

'Should we be really celebrating this?' Squall said with one hand on his waist, clearly glaring at the floor. 'I mean it could be something that could mean a lot of problems for us.' He pointed out. 'Maybe it could be a powerful monster and we're just standing here happy about it growing…' He finished sceptically, but Rinoa shook her head, her mood a bit dampened yet still cheerful. 'I can't feel anything negative about it, neither does Edea.' They stood still for a moment in a silent staring contest.

The sorceress was the first one to break away and zoned out, clearly beyond amazement. 'It's so wonderful…a new life growing right before our very eyes!' Her spirits heightened just by reliving the experience. 'Like I could take a glimpse in the womb, watching how something seemingly inanimate turns into something very much alive….it's…I can't even begin to express how that makes me feel.' The words were pouring from her lips as she absently played with the rings on her necklace. 'It's strange, but it makes me feel like a mother you know?' She looked up to see the disbelieving look on her knights' face before he almost slapped his forehead. 'Like it was something of me, growing, becoming more and more capable of life. It feels truly amazing…' She said with a happy sigh ignoring him, then took a look at the clock above the entrance. 'Did you fall asleep on work again? I thought I told you to get into bed, when I came here yesterday evening mister.' She scolded him with both fists balled on her waist.

The commander held both hands before him, ready to surrender, and then it suddenly hit him. 'How did you-'

'-…know?' Dr. Kadowaki said snickering. 'Maybe because I tried to phone your room and nobody picked up?' The doctor said while doing a questioning gesture with one hand. 'It only figures you're at the only other place that someone would expect from you to be, at this time of day anyway.' She paused and looked at the commander clearly amused. 'In the office. I swear you'll be worse than Cid if you keep it up like this…'

'...Whatever..'

* * *

The nights had passed slowly from week to week, from month to month, from year to year and as time passed, the silhouette of a young girl started to show and grow into a woman through the semi-translucent surface of the egg, that's size multiplied itself a few times over the four years of its existence. The more she grew, the more disturbing the dreams started to become.

'I can feel that she's been painfully lonely.' The younger woman said as she stirred along, her attention clearly not on her cup. 'And I thought she was unconscious all along, but it seems that she was awake for quite long before she fell asleep.' Neither woman felt better after this revelation. 'How awful… it must be tough…' Rinoa said as she raised the cup to her lips to take a sip of coffee. 'Yes, that's quite true, ' Her companion started slowly. '-..but why don't we make sure she won't suffer anymore, when she reaches the surface?' Matron asked with a steady, calm look.

'Surely you have noticed that she's going to, for lack of better term '_hatch_' soon, and if no one brings her on shore she'll drown.' The wife of the headmaster looked outside where not too far away the ocean stretched, with a worried and serious expression. 'You know, I'm not sure about that…Why would it take the time and energy to grow if it would just die like that? That wouldn't make any sense.'

She took a cookie from the tray and took a bite, when Edea suddenly said, 'Let's just agree that when we see that her shell starts to crack, we'll bring her on shore _if_ she can't come out herself.' Both of them nodded. 'I thought about landing her near Balamb. I'm sure she'll like it there. Lots of nice people, friendly, kind and caring. She'll have a good place there.' Rinoa nodded again in approval and took another sip of her coffee, thinking that she'll even be able to keep an eye on her that way. Though Edea didn't know, Squall decided to maneuver Garden back to its original place.

...

She stood there beside_ her_ and just watched her silhouette clutch her legs to her body in a serene sleep, a row of little bubbles emitting from the surface of the shell. The slimy, thick membrane covered the girls' mouth and nose, little plucks of the same material covering the rest of her body, attaching her to the inner side of the shell; her long hair flowing around her figure, like it would every night. The whole complex glowed with a light pink color like it always did.

As Rinoa just stood there smiling to herself, she noticed a slight movement. The egg was shaking a little due to movement on the inside. The sorceress noted that the silhouette unclasped its hands from its legs and tried to break the shell apart by pushing it practically every way that was possible.

'So it's starting.' She braced herself and called upon her magic. 'I know I said I won't bother her until we're certain she's helpless, but I just can't help but do something.' The sorceress ran through the familiar motions and searched her head. 'So Edea please help...You might not be a sorceress anymore, but please…try to help a bit. I know you still can.' She pleaded as she concentrated her powers on the strongest Float she ever produced. First the egg didn't seem to budge, but after a few more mental pushes, it gave a jolt and flew up, fully disobeying the law of gravity.

Minutes later, - what actually felt like hours - Rinoa could see a light above and felt relief fill her. 'We're almost there. Just hold in a bit longer.' She told the girl inside, who was pushing the shell apart with all her might, occasionally hammering away with her arms or giving it a well aimed kick or two.

Her struggling was steadily coming closer to a success, as large cracks formed on the surface of the egg, and its light started to dim. The girl let her arms fall for a few seconds to collect the last amount of power that she could manage to push, or hit with. For a few moments she was still, and then she slowly put her hands back on the inner sides of the egg and wailed with the effort that she put behind the last immense kick. An even louder crunch than the ones before and the lessening of the all-confining pressure under her hands indicated that she was almost free.

Rinoa stared in horror and gave the very last push to her powers that she could manage. 'Great Hyne…we need to hurry... .'

…

A few minutes later she looked at the unconscious girl that was lying in the shallow water on the shore. Or more precisely she stared.

'How is this possible….?' The sorceress crouched down before the _newborn_. 'I never thought …I didn't mean…It was just a symbol I used….How could this happen..?' She mumbled to herself, then after a few moments of her mind going blank, she realized that she needed some clothes. 'Well…she can't run around naked now, can she? I think I'll take over with this Edea. Just rest a bit.' She said, though she wasn't sure if the other woman heard it. Apparently not, because before she could concentrate on materializing an outfit on her; a blood-red, short, furisode-styled dress that flared into a dark burgundy at the bottom, and a delicate pair of brown, small heeled sandals appeared on her.

Rinoa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. 'Guess we're done. I think we only need to wait 'till we wake up.' She thought to herself as she sat down in the sand. 'Though I'd love to know what she'll do next.'

She looked at the girl - who stirred slightly and opened her eyes - then looked at Garden flowing back to its place and turned back to the girl lying on her stomach. 'Guess I'll be closer to you huh?' She said, watching as the girl flexed her fingers. 'Don't worry, I'll find a way for you to have good company and good friends. I will.' She assured the girl, who obviously couldn't hear her.

'For you and for me, to find out more about both of us and the connection between us. And that's a promise!' She said giggling, while she drank in the other girls' first true movements. As she stood up, washed herself, even her silly little dance that really had no meaning. She marvelled at it all. The way she was frightened and amazed at the same time, at how one could almost visibly see how she prepared her plans and set out. She observed it all, and started to follow her. They were well over half the journey to the road, when the sorceress spotted it. The creature had been following them from a distance, slinking in the shadows on the edge of the forest. It's blood-red eyes were following the hatchlings' every movement.

The raven headed woman panicked. There was no way to contact Edea, or the girl, and she had already forced herself nearly into magical exhaustion.

She was so preoccupied she didn't even notice the familiar buzzing of Bite Bugs. Not until the girl broke into a dash. The sorceress ran straight after her, while keeping an eye on the creature tailing them. Seeing as the girl changed her direction to the woods, it disappeared inside as well. 'This is bound to get ugly.' She cursed and jumped after her charge, as she set off again after a little rest under the shrubbery.

A few hours later Rinoa was about to fall over from the strain of the rescue, and she was losing speed rapidly. Before all of her strength gave out, she could spot the gate of Balamb, and fell to her knees with a huff. 'She's safe. Now I can final–'

Her lips froze in horror. The creature that she though they lost just appeared on the edge of the forest. It charged at the girl standing under the arch. Rinoa screamed as loud as she could, but she already felt her consciousness drift, and she woke up to the quiet, humming noise of the Gardens' engines with her heart almost bursting out of her chest.

...

'I never thought you'd go through with it.' He said, nudging her to respond and stop sleeping on the swivel-chair. 'You're even crazier than I thought.' He laughed and clapped her on the back a few times. 'Just one question though.' The pianist turned serious. '…Do you have your will written?' He asked taking his hand off of her shoulder. ' - cause in case you haven't..'

He was stopped by an accidental kick on his shin. 'As much as I appreciate your concern Sion, I think it's misplaced.' She said from below, while hanging onto his closest shoulder for support. 'Exactly how many times have I asked you not to pick on me, while I'm sitting on this chair?' She asked while clambering to stand. 'You _know_ it's lopsided.' She stumbled amongst the wires and instruments, and righted the death trap from which she fell off at least daily. 'Besides..not to disillusion you, but I have enough blackmail-material to keep this battle with Jacklyn going for a while.' She winked at the youngest of her voluntary brothers.

'Thank Hyne _we're_ on a standstill.' He said looking up skywards, and putting his hands together as if he were in the middle of a prayer. 'Okay, cough it up. You know you owe me 1304 gils exactly.' She said motioning him closer.

The blond one tried to bide his time and sidestep her. 'Oh look, the others are calling. Maybe Mr. K has arrived?' He pointed over to the only occupied booth, which was thickly surrounded by smoke and received another kick to his shin, this time not accidental. 'OUCH!' He grabbed his leg. 'That bloody hurt, missy!' He whined.

'Quit stalling bro, I'm here to cash in my check.' She grinned down at him like she was the Cheshire Cat herself, as she crouched down, and put both her open palms before him. The young man grudgingly took out his wallet and paid the exact amount. 'It was a pleasure brother, but next time remember what they say-' She hopped up and pointed forward at him playfully, with her other fist balled on her side. '..If you can't stand the heat, don't anger the Ruby dragon!' She laughed and ran back towards the booth, where the rest of the band was chilling after a long performance.

…

'Hey there little beep. Taught Sion how to gamble like a man?' Her other 'brother' sitting in the back greeted her, letting out a puff of smoke. Rain made a face. 'Jef, where do you get these Hyne-awful cigars from? I thought Tara threw the last packet away.' She said coughing, while she motioned at the man already in his thirties. 'The next shipment from Timber with your usual will be here tomorrow, until then please smoke what _we_ have on hand if you must, will 'ya?' Even a fly could be heard buzzing above.

'Whoa there little lady, I don't think-' Craig started gobsmacked, but Jef calmly raised a hand stopping him. Everyone looked stunned at the two of them, as the bass player put out his cigar and Rain wordlessly reached for her packet of cigarettes and offered him one. He took it and grinned at everyone. 'Buzzard here is right, this blend really _is_ terrible.' He admitted, scratching his nose. Rain laughed again, ruffled his hair and gave him a peck on the top of his head. 'You know, if you told me you're running out, we could've ordered some extra for you.' She smiled, slid in the booth and plopped down between him and Craig.

Sion slid in beside the drummer on the other side, still grumbling something vague about 'half-a-paycheck' and 'little-pipsqueak'.

Jole looked around, scratched his head that was full of short, muted-pink tresses and exclaimed cheerfully singing, his voice spiced with a little drawl. 'Little-Missy-Beep-Beep is on a roll to-daaaaay.' Then his head clunked on the table.

The girl turned to face Craig. 'That wasn't even his third glass. You owe me a hundred.' She said with the same Cheshire smile playing on her lips as minutes before. 'Pay up, pay uuup.' Her sing-song voice urged him on.

'Unbelievable.' The guitarist said as he reached for his wallet. 'You must teach me how to make one of these cocktails.' He counted down the notes into her hand. 'If two and a half glasses can knock _him_ out, we-'

'Ahem.' Came from the entrance of the booth. Both Craig and Raine hid the contents of their hands behind their backs faster than the words _underage_ _scoundrel_ could've been said.

'Could someone wake Jole for me? …Thank you Sion.' He said as Jole awoke with a pained hiss and a mumbled _wazzit_, before sitting upright.

'As we are mostly all present,' Mr. K looked pointedly at Jole. 'I'd like to thank you for today's brilliant performance. You were all in excellent form and I dare say, that your hard work will bring shining opportunities for-'

'Psst. Hey Jef, think this is going somewhere?' She whispered to her neighbour. Jef shrugged. 'I hope so.' Whispered Craig, catching their conversation.

'There are many amongst our audience, that are from foreign countries, although they are mostly Garden exchange students, or wealthy elderly on a vacation; there are also high ranking officials, and businessmen, who can spread the word about this band in higher circles..'

After ten more minutes, Jef noticed the girls' eyes turn glassy and decided to intervene. 'I don't want to be rude Bruce, we all love you to bits, but could you get to the point? We're barely awake already.' He motioned around the table for him to see. The band _was_ in a sorry state. 'And I'm pretty much sure you don't want Tara on your case. You know, I'm supposed to be on baby-duty tonight.' He finished and took a long drag from his cigarette.

'Mr. K, it's half past three in the morning. I want to find my bed.' Whined the girl, her head propped up on both hands. The owner smiled at them cheerfully.

'Then I have just the thing to wake you up!' He clapped his hands together enthusiastically and rubbed them together. 'As I said there were a lot of people here, who brought home some very good recommendations of you lot.' He said beaming at them. Everyone sat a little straighter, even Jef lowered his cigarette. 'Your next performance will be on the _SeeD Graduation Ball_, in Galbadia Garden!' Another thud was heard as this time _her_ head collided with the table. _'Oh joy. Just my luck.'_

'Sorry, my hands slipped.' Was all she could say in a pained voice, before she was dragged into one of the many hugs and the celebration, with everyone practically dancing on the table, sleep obviously long forgotten.


End file.
